Formal Aspects of Mauro Giulianis Gran Sonata

Eroica in A Major
Daniel C. Tompkins
April 19, 2016
Abstract
This paper investigates Mauro Giulianis approach to blending Veinnese sonata
form with the Italian bel canto. Special attention will be paid to the conflict between
A major and C major and its role in the medial caesura and the recapitulation. This
paper also explores the question of the Gran Sonatas authenticity and the role of the
Classical guitars idiomatic key areas in the structure and design of the sonata.

Introduction: The Guitar and the Chromatic Mediant

Italian Classical guitar music may be outside sonata theorys milieu, but for Mauro
Giuliani and other classical guitarists it was a style they frequented, albeit with their own
style. The focus of this paper will be on Giulianis Gran Sonata Eroica in A major, op. 115.
Before moving into the sonata, I will give a brief explanation about use of key on the
guitar. Three keys dominate the classical guitar repertory: C major, A minor, and A major.
C major is used for Alberti bass because it is the only key in which the open chord shapes of I,
IV, and V are laid out in a closed 1, 3, 5 position. Other keys require significant unidiomatic
hand positions to make a simple Alberti bass (Tompkins 2015). A major and minor are used
extensively for virtuosity. The early nineteenth-century Classical guitars highest possible
note was A5 (notated A6) and its lowest two strings are E and A, making a convenient 5, 1
bass with enough strings above to harmonize the chords. While this may seem tangential,
the keys of A major and C major will play a significant role in Giulianis sonata.
In this paper I will focus primarily on the large-scale formal features and problems in the
sonata. I will be using terminology from Hepokoski and Darcys Elements of Sonata Theory.

1.1

Mauro Giuliani(17811829)

Mauro Giuliani was a virtuosic guitarist and cellist. He moved to Vienna in 1806 and was
immersed in the classical style and soon began publishing compositions in this new found
style. He personally knew Beethoven, Rossini and other notable performers and composers,
and in 1813 he was a cellist in the first performance of Beethovens Seventh Symphony. A
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year earlier he published a guitar sonata in C major, which is a very typical type 3 sonata. He
experienced only moderate success as a composer in Vienna but was successful as a teacher
and performer. However, due to financial troubles, he moved back to Italy in 1819 where he
enjoyed success as a composer, teacher, and performer until his death in 1829.
Much of Giulianis compositional output, and other contemporaneous guitarists outputs,
were theme and variations on opera arias. These provided people a way to enjoy the latest
opera arias in their homes, especially if they could not attend the actual opera. In these
pieces Giuliani mastered imitation of the Italian bel canto style, and this is present in his
other pieces as well, including the Gran Sonata.

1.2

Gran Sontata Eroica and Authorship

In 1821, Giuliani wrote to Ricordi that he had five new pieces in a style never before
known (Hii n.d.) to sell. However, the sonata was published several years after Giulianis
death, and there is some debate over the sonatas authorship and authenticity. Brian Jefferys preface to the Tecla Editions of Giulianis work suggests the sonata is a patchwork of
Giulianis previous work and is not truly an original Giuliani (Jeffery 1977). Thomas Heck
does not include the sonata in his New Grove 2 article on Giuliani (T. Heck 1980). However,
Philip Hii provided an extensive analysis of the claims and determined that it is likely an
authentic Giuliani composition from 1821 (Hii n.d.).

Exposition

On a large scale, the exposition contains all one would expect from a type 3 sonata. The
only problematic place is the medial caesura (MC), which will plant the seed for a much
larger problem in the recapitulation (recap).

2.1

Primary Themes (P) and Transition (TR)

The primary theme (P1 ) begins with a regular four-bar phrase ending with a half cadence
(HC). The second phrase begins on IV but eventually reaches a PAC 9 measures later (see
figure 1) While the transition (TR) could begin here, a second theme begins (P2 ) and features
guitar harmonics (see figure 2). Due to the monophonic nature of the harmonic section, there
is a lack of a strong PAC. That in addition to the gradual chromaticism creates a P2 =TR
area Schmalfeldt 2011. The transition ends with a strong V:HC at the end of the arpeggiated
section (see figure 3).

2.2

Medial Caesura (MC)

Upon arrival, the V:HC at the end of the transition seems like the perfect place for

an oncoming MC. The following measure features only a monophonic repetition of V:5.

However, the V:5 is reinterpreted as [III:7, which leads to a short phrase is in C major ([III),
concluding with a confident PAC. The section is quickly thrown back into V and ends with

Figure 1: Primary Theme (P1 )

Figure 2: Primary Theme (P2 )

Figure 3: Transition (TR)

Figure 4: Medial Caesura (MC) Options

a PAC. This sets up another MC with a monophonic repetition of V:1 and leads directly to
S.
The options are either that the first strong MC was declined by the C major phrase and
that the next MC is accepted or that there is a tri-modular block. I think that due to the fact
that C major is harmonically distant from I and V, the first MC was declined. The C major
phrase in the middle of the MC candidates only presents a small problem of determining
where the MC is. However, this chromatic mediant key relationship that Giuliani previewed
for four measures becomes a much bigger problem in the recap. Notice also that these two
keys, while distant, are two of the ones discussed in the introduction. The reason for this will
also be revealed in the recap, but for now it will suffice to point out the very conservative
form of the C major phrase. Because C major lends itself easily to Alberti bass, it is often
used for less virtuosic and more conservative styles (and because it is much more difficult to
execute fast arpeggios in C major than A major).

2.3

Secondary Theme (S), EEC, and Closing (C)

The secondary theme (S) shows off Giulianis bel canto melodic style. It is a parallel
period with only a small phrase expansion before the PAC is reached. One of the unique
features of this sonata is that S seems to be more tightly knit than P. This will also come
more to the fore in the recap. The EEC that is marked in 5 is the first strong candidate. It
is possible to take the EEC several bars later, as the cadence is re-articulated several times.
However, I have decided to take the first PAC as the EEC because I do not think there is
enough of a jumping-away from the cadence to consider the door being opened again.
The remaining parts of the exposition are closing (C) themes. C space will not be the
focus of this paper, mostly due to the fact that C is primarily guitar gymnastics rather than
a new theme or harmonic problem. I find the argument against authenticity (especially of
self-plagiarizing) of the sonata to be most compelling for C space. However, it is difficult
to separate what Giuliani stole from himself and what is just part of the standard jar of
classical guitar gesturesor perhaps both. But as Hii n.d. points out, this is not the only
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piece in which Giuliani uses familiar material.

Development

Like the C space, the themes of the development are difficult to trace. The material
sounds familiar, and the beginning seems to quote P2 (see figure 6), but otherwise the
development seems to be new material that explores other keys. This would make the
development non-rotationala bit unusual for a type 3 sonata. Because of the stock guitar
gestures of C, it is likely to find many similar arpeggios or scalar flourishes in the development
space that is similar to C and therefore find a rotation. The primary goal of the development
becomes a half cadence in C major ([III), bringing in what appears to be a false recap in
that key.

False(?) Recapitulation

This is the point at which it is necessary to remember the introductory remarks about
the keys of A major and C major on the guitar. C major is the more conservative style,
Alberti bass featuring key, while A major is the virtuosic one. This is indeed the case as
can be seen in the Alberti bass texture of P1 in 7. After the first three measures, P1 is
abandoned, and bel canto flourishes take over until a PAC is reached (which is only after
two one more time cadences).
After the final PAC, a triplet section on a tonic (of C major) pedal begins and then steps
down to a dominant lock in the home key (I). From a phenomenological standpoint, it seems
that the arrival of the real recap is near. The dominant lock leads to a MC that is identical
to the second MC choice of the exposition (perhaps further validating that choice), and S
begins in I. This is problematic because P is expected rather than S. Even though P1 was
only articulated for nearly three bars, it never comes back after the confident entrance of S.
Like the exposition, there is a C section, and it is again guitar gymnastics that bring the
piece to a close. From a structural standpoint (see figure 10), it is now more tempting to see
figure the first two PACs as evaded in a one more time fashion (Schmalfeldt 2011). The
final ESC candidate provides a more convincing 2 1 motion than the other cadences, and
what follows is clearly C rather than a retried cadence. However, this is not the present focus
of this paper, as I think the bigger issues of structure and design come from the chromatic
mediant problem.

Overall Form: Sonata Type

This puzzling C major section is an outgrowth of the harmonic problem in the MC of the
exposition. It is an example of Giuliani taking a small, local key issue and turning it into
a key issue for the design of the sonata. It is possible to re-conceptualize the sonata type
as type 2 rather than type 3 because of the weak return of P in the recap. There is also
evidence for this in the unusual aspect of S being more tightly-knit than P (Caplin 2000).

Figure 5: Secondary Theme (S) to EEC

Figure 6: Beginning of the Development

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Figure 7: False(?) Recap of P1

Figure 8: Recap: TR to S

Figure 9: Recap: S

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As Hepokoski and Darcy point out, there are two other known instances of a [III recap.
One instance is the F major slow movement of Mozarts Piano Concerto in C, K. 467. This
also presents an issue of whether the exposition is continuous or two-part. The recap begins
on [III and then reaches the ESC (after S, if viewed as present). After the ESC, the P theme
is continued in the correct keysomething that does not happen in the Gran Sonata. The
other example Hepokoski and Darcy show is the finale of Schuberts Symphony No. 9 in C
Major (The Great), D. 944. Here, the development contains an 84-bar dominant pedal
that dissolves to a single note (G) which is reinterpreted to be [III:3. This is strikingly
similar to the Gran Sonatas pitch reinterpretation. Hepokoski and Darcy suggest this is a
reinterpretation of the V/vi that was common for Haydn as a V/i. The V/vi would normally
lead to I, so a V/i leads to [III. I think this is the closest to representing what Giuliani was
doing for this section.
Again with the issue of authenticity, it is argued that the published Gran Sonata was a
modernization of a more conservative sonata to fit the later style (it was published in 1840,
decades after Giulianis death). Schuberts ninth symphony was also published in 1840,
but this was also after his death, and he was also working on it in the early to mid 1820s
(Newbould 1992). The claim that the sonata is inauthentic looses traction, and Giuliani
himself wrote in 1821 that this new sonata was very different in form than anything else (Hii
n.d.).
The [III problem also presents a structural one from a Schenkerian perspective. 10
shows the background structure of the sonata. The blue represents the C major section.
The C major section at the MC was not structurally significant enough to be a background
issue, but the C major section in the recap clearly is. In the recap 3 begins in C major and
is then corrected when S arrives in the correct key. Also, the interruption is reinterpreted.
The end of the development sets up an interruption on I:2, but that morphs higher into an
interruption on [III:2. This moment is the most critical of the sonata. The interpretation of
the blue areas (probably better understood as gray areas) will determine the sonata type.
I still think the sonata is type 3 even with the problem of the recap, but type 2 is a strong
choice.
From a Schenkerian view, the chromatic mediant problem creates a problem of where
to place structural tones. 11 shows the structural tones of P in the exposition and recap,
respectively. If one views the sonata as a 3-line, as I do, or as a 5-line (also possible), it is
no problem to find 3 in the same place in both keys (albeit in different keys). The problem
comes with the S theme, as can be seen in 12 where the structural tones of the S themes
are shown in the exposition and recap, respectively. Here, there is no way to keep the same
structural tone of the melody and have the same Urlinie. If 3 had been achieved in the
correct key of P, there could have been melodic consistency of structural tone and taken the
first note as an upper third of 3. But in the absence of 3 in the correct key preceding S, I
find it difficult to justify notating the first note of S as the upper third of a nonexistent I:3.

11

Figure 10: Schenkerian Reduction of Gran Sonata: Blue indicates C Major

Figure 11: Structural Tone Consistency Problem in P1

12

Figure 12: Structural Tone Consistency Problem in S

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Conclusion: The Guitar and the Chromatic Mediant, Revisited

As someone who had an intimate knowledge of the guitar, Giuliani employed both keys
in their prototypical way. A major produced virtuosic arpeggios while C major produced
Alberti bass and more conservative phrases. By themselves, the treatment of each key is
very typical. Put together, however, and it brings a chromatic mediant problem that can
impact the structure and design of the sonata. When Giuliani wrote that the sonata was in
a form never seen before, perhaps he was referring to this. But the form is hardly new. Key
issue aside, the form is very clearly a sonata, and most of the parts work as expected.
One larger issue that has thus far only been addressed in passing is the incorporation of
bel canto melodies and the fact that Giuliani had been living in Italy when this was written
rather than Vienna. His first full sonata, and other sonatinas, were published in Vienna and
were written in a conservative, Viennese style. The Gran Sonata, however, deviates from
the norm. One could speculate that Giuliani felt more freedom from the Viennese style in
Italy, but I think his concentration on the bel canto style is an issue to be considered as well.
Sonata theory is not built upon melodies but rather key areas. If Giuliani was mostly focused
on his melodies and how to best ornament them and make them sing on the guitar, key
area would have perhaps been a lesser priority.
I think this piece represents an interesting intersection of Italian opera and Viennese
form. Giuliani certainly had a foot in both places during his life. He personally knew both
Beethoven and Rossini, and it appears as if he was able to fuse the two together to create
something new and very guitar friendly. I think the study of form in the Classical guitar
repertory is currently underdeveloped. There are other important sonatas by Fernando Sor,
a Spanish-born guitarist who made his career in Paris, and other contemporaneous guitarists.
It would also be interesting to look at how the guitar left the Viennese and bel canto styles
in the compositions of Legnani, Mertz, Aguado, and Regondi. They left the Giuliani legacy
and tradition behind and moved towards later Romantic styles. Afterwards, the guitar soon
fell out of fashion, only to be revised again in the early-mid twentieth century.
The music of Giuliani has since become part of every classical guitarists repertoire. I,
for one, was required to play at least one major Giuliani piece before graduating, and I
fortunately had the opportunity to perform it on a nineteenth-century guitar reproduction.
But perhaps this repertoire should also make its way from the limited world of classical
guitarists to the broader discussion about form in the early nineteenth century. There are
many interesting questions to be explored, the first of which is the extent instrument choice
affects form. The chromatic submediant problem seems like an outgrowth of the guitars
limits of playing idiomatic in these keys. Further study will be able to show whether the
chromatic submediant problem is unique to the Gran Sonata or is a feature brought about
by the Classical guitar.

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